A coronial inquest has started into the workplace death of a teenage apprentice in Adelaide.

Daniel Madeley, 18, was operating a horizontal borer at Diemould Tooling in 2004 when his dustcoat caught in a spindle and he was sucked into the machine.

He suffered horrific injuries and died the next day.

The company pleaded guilty in the Industrial Court, which meant no witnesses were called.

Mr Madeley's mother Andrea says the coronial inquest allows those witnesses to be heard and she has been given permission to cross-examine them herself.

"Effectively through the criminal justice system you are nothing but a spectator," she said.

"This is very different and there's a lot of evidence to come but it is important I feel it is an opportunity that at least you can have some answers yourself rather than relying on someone else hoping they'll get the questions asked."

Ms Madeley hopes the coroner's proceedings will make workplaces safer for others.

"What I'm hoping is that we're going to see recommendations from the coroner's court that will ultimately save lives," she said.

The opening day of the hearing was told Daniel Madeley had been trained on the machine that killed him by another apprentice, Mark Remfrey.

Mr Remfrey told the court he was the one who pushed the emergency stop button when Mr Madeley got caught and who stayed with him until help arrived.

He believes his co-worker's sleeve got caught as he was applying coolant to the drill bit.

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